Another study has emerged implicating sugar sweetened beverages as the major culprit for cardiovascular disease in the United States. Even moderate consumption for two weeks led to a significant increase in risk factor. The risk was dose dependent upon the amount of sugar sweetened beverages consumed and this study is one of the first to correlate and demonstrate a direct dose dependent relationship between the amount of added sugar consumed and increases in specific factors for cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the US and social scientists and researchers have attempted to find a solution for preventable health conditions. The study participants for this study consisted of 85 participants including men and women ranging in age from 18-40 years who were placed in four different groups. The research study was conducted over a period of 15 days and participants consumed beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup equivalent to 0 percent, 10 percent, 17.5 percent or 25 percent of their total daily calorie requirements. The 0-percent control group was given a sugar-free beverage sweetened with aspartame, an artificial sweetener.

The changes in the levels of lipoproteins, triglycerides and uric acid were measured at the beginning and end of study and researchers used hourly blood draws to monitor the changes. These changes are risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and increased as the dose of high fructosecorn syrup increased. Even a low dose, defined as 10%, caused an increased circulating concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride compared with their concentrations at the beginning of the study

“These findings clearly indicate that humans are acutely sensitive to the harmful effects of excess dietary sugar over a broad range of consumption levels,” said Kimber Stanhope, the study’s lead author and a research scientist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. It was also found that most of the dose dependant increases in lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for cardiovascular disease were greater in men than in women and were independent of body weight gain.